Gerardo Iván Contreras Gámez (born January 29, 1974, in

Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fif ...

) is a former Mexican professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. His position on the field is outside hitter. Contreras has been voted ''player of the year'' in 2005, 2007 and 2008 in Belgium. Contreras is also captain of Knack Roeselare. Contreras attended Penn State University where he won an NCAA National Championship as a freshman and was named the

AVCA The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 9,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit corporation, non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is cur ...

National Player of the Year in 1997. Among Contreras' former teams are Osnabrück in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, MTV Näfels in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Knack Roeselare Knack Roeselare is a Belgian professional men's volleyball club based in Roeselare. They compete in the Euro Millions Volley League and the CEV Champions League. The club was founded on February 12, 1964. Officially they started in the lowest di ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and Ziraat Bankası Ankara in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. In 2004, he won the MVP award from the

Liga de Voleibol Superior Masculino The Liga de Voleibol Superior Masculino (LVSM) is a men's professional volleyball league in Puerto Rico. The competitions are organized by the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation (Federación Puertorriqueña de Voleibol, FPV). History Volleybal ...

, playing with Gigantes de Adjuntas. He played for this team from 2002 to 2006. Before playing volleyball, Contreras was practicing

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

, especially

hurdling Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. Contreras had also tried

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

, but he was tired of individual sports and started to play volleyball, which he preferred over

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. On May 27, 2008, Contreras revealed that he will sign a lucrative one-year deal with Ziraat Bankası Ankara. He returned to Roeselare after one season. In recognition of his performance during the 2009, he won the ''"Luchador Olmeca"'' award in January, 2010.

Clubs

Penn State Nittany Lions men's volleyball The Penn State Nittany Lions men's volleyball program has had a long tradition at Penn State University. Founded by Tom Tait, Tait coached the team from 1976 to 1989, and was named a USA Volleyball All-Time great coach in 2007. Mark Pavlik has b ...

* MTV Näfels (1997–2000) * Gigantes de Adjuntas (2000) *

(2000–2008) * Gigantes de Adjuntas (2002–2006) * Ziraat Bankası Ankara (2008–2009) *

(2009–2011) * Leones de Ponce (2011)

Individual awards

* 1994 "NCAA AVCA Second Team All American" * 1995 "NCAA AVCA First Team All American" * 1996 "NCAA AVCA First Team All American" * 1997 "NCAA AVCA First Team All American and Player of the Year" * 1998 "Voted Runner up Player of the Year in Switzerland" * 1999 "Player of the Year in Switzerland" * 2000 "Player of the Year in Switzerland" * 2001 "Top Teams Cup Champion" * 2004 ''Liga de Voleibol Superior Masculino "MVP"'' * 2004–2005 "European Champions League Best Scorer" * 2004–2005 "Player of the Year in Belgium" * 2006–2007 "Player of the Year in Belgium" * 2007–2008 "European Champions League Best Scorer and Best Attacker" * 2007–2008 "Player of the Year in Belgium" * 2008 "Best Scorer Olympic Qualifier, Caguas P.R." * 2009 "MVP in World Championships Qualifier, Guadalajara Mexico" * 2010 ''Luchador Olmeca'' * 2011 "Best Scorer Panamerican Games, Guadalajara, Mexico" 18

References

External links

Ivan's website

FIVB Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contreras, Ivan 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Tampico, Tamaulipas Volleyball players at the 2007 Pan American Games Volleyball players at the 2011 Pan American Games Penn State Nittany Lions men's volleyball players Ziraat Bankası volleyball players Mexican men's volleyball players Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Pan American Games competitors for Mexico